


Can't Do It Alone

by Vashti (tvashti)



Series: Madeline's Garden [3]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, La Femme Nikita
Genre: 2014 Twisted Shorts Ficathon, Community: twistedshorts, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Gen Work, Lone Wolf, Pack Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 13:05:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8668672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvashti/pseuds/Vashti
Summary: One of the other operatives brings Oz something he's been secretly needing for weeks now.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Twisted Shorts August 2014 Ficathon.

When Chisholm, pretending to be an enthusiastic groupie, appeared at the lunch table Oz and the other Dingoes had appropriated and asked him, Oz, to listen to the song he wrote, Oz didn’t think much about it. They’d been in Sunnydale for three weeks, and since most of them are pretending to be students at different levels of the high school social strata, they’ve all become creative with getting their reports on the supernatural out to Oz. He’d been accosted by Dale-as-bully. Class clown Park had tossed a paper airplane at his head, prompting his "sister" (and the only woman on the team), Weller, to write him a note in apology. Chisholm had taken on the role of groupie, and so it wasn’t unusual to get reports in the guise of signing autographs. Or as a recording. Devon thought Oz was being too nice to the glee club nerd, but Oz just shrugged it off. _"Weren’t the Beastie Boys nerds?"_

_"Man, don’t even..."_

Oz looked up at Chisholm...Steven. "Hey, thanks Steve. I promise I’ll try it out later."

Steven...Chisholm...rocked on the balls of his feet, excitement turning his eyes bright. "Please, if you could listen to this now. I worked really had on it all night and--"

Interpreting the fannish plea into "I ran into trouble last night and you need to know what it was _now_ ," Oz took the discman from the op and pulled on the headphones.

_"Oz..."_

He nearly crumpled, giddy and relieved in a way even he wasn’t expected. Devon and the guys had tuned out the moment they’d spotted Chisholm...Steven...(he could be clingy), but Oz glanced at them anyway to make sure.

"Madeline?" he breathed.

He could hear the amusement in her simple, _"Yes."_

Oz glanced up at Chisholm, the dark eyes serious in his equally dark face. Oz nodded. "This is good. Really good."

Chisholm nodded. "Thanks. Wasn’t sure you’d be into it."

"No it’s... I’m totally into it. I’ll, uh, listen for a while and let you know what I think?"

Chisholm...Steven...rocked on the balls of his feet again, back in character. "That would be so cool, man."

Oz nodded once. "Cool."

With a goofy wave, Steven...Chisholm...was off. Devon decided it was good time to remember that Oz existed. "Yo, man, it’s like feedin’ strays. They don’t learn to fend for themselves, they make a mess and they have kittens."

Oz blinked at the young man, genuinely confused. "What?" In his ear he thought he heard Madeline chuckle. 

"I’m just sayin’ if you’re gonna keep signing his t-shirts and listening to his demos, you’re never gonna get rid of him."

Brow raised, Oz said, "He’s a fan."

"Yeah. A _guy_ fan. The Dingoes have standards to maintain, Oz my man. And those standards usually come with a nice rack."

Snorting, Oz turned away from the young man. "I promised Steven I’d take a listen so I am. It’s really not that bad."

Devon reached for the headphones. When Oz ducked away, probably more sharply than he should have, Devon pulled a face. "What. It’s not like I’m gonna, like, purposefully scratch up the CD or something."

"Yeah, but you’ll dig into Steve. And I kinda like the song. Even if it is eleven minutes long."

"Dude, eleven?!"

But Oz was already out of his seat, walking away from most of the lunch crowd. "Madeline?" he said again, only a little more loudly than before.

_"I’m here, Oz. I’m here."_

After three weeks of what would have been punishment for serious infractions at home with his pack in Section Four, Madeline’s voice was as welcome as a pile full of warm pack-members. Most humans weren’t as tactile as werewolves, and Oz had been feeling the lack keenly. He had, in fact, been about to request that he be relieved; he wasn’t strong enough to complete the Sunnydale mission if it meant mostly going it alone. 

_"And I’ll be here until you and the team come back home."_

[Fin]ite


End file.
